• A giant aquarium in a hotel lobby in Berlin, Germany, exploded on Friday, according to reports.
  • Two people were injured, officials said, and the tank's 1,500 tropical fish are likely all dead.
  • It is unclear how the aquarium burst, but officials ruled out a targeted attack.

An enormous fish tank in a Berlin hotel lobby burst early on Friday morning, spilling 250,000 gallons of water into nearby streets and likely killing all its 1,500 tropical fish, according to multiple reports.

Police and fire department officials said two people were injured by shards of glass after the 14 meter-high (46 ft) tank exploded at 5.45 am local time in the DomAquarée complex on Friday, the BBC reported.

The tank, which set a Guinness World Record for being the largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium, was located in the DomAquarée complex in Berlin's Mitte district. The complex houses various businesses including a Radisson Blu hotel.

Officials said that the water of the aquarium "leaked almost completely, both in the building and onto the streets," adding that that damage was "incredible," the BBC and CBS News reported.

The tank's 1,500 tropical fish are likely all dead, the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.

Officials said it is unclear how the tank burst, but said there was no evidence it was the result of a targeted attack.

A video published by Berlin television broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg shows the inside of the lobby littered with debris and large shards of glass in the aftermath of the explosion. 

Debris from the collapse was also scattered in the street in front of the building, which was closed due to flooding. Hotel guests were evacuated, DW reported. 

 "There are dead fish. All the furniture is destroyed. The windows are destroyed. Shards everywhere," two hotel guests told the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur, DW reported.

A woman carries a suitcase past first responders standing amidst the debris in front of the Radisson Blu hotel, where a huge aquarium located in the hotel's lobby burst on December 16, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. Foto: John Macdougall /AFP via Getty Images

The aquarium, which was opened in December 2003, contained more than 100 different species of fish, the BBC reported.

It was made of acrylic glass and had an elevator built into the middle of it. On its website on Friday, it said the attraction was temporarily closed.

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